Nigeria’s first confirmed case of Ebola since the outbreak in East Africa began in May is the wife of a diplomat who travelled to Uganda’s capital for a holiday, the head of Africa’s health agency has told the BBC.
The woman is originally from Uganda but based in Abuja, where she fell ill three days after arriving home in the Nigerian capital on 3 October, according to Dr Jean Kaseya from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nigeria’s health minister has confirmed to the BBC the 42-year-old patient spent two and a half weeks in Kampala, adding that she also made a two-hour stopover in Ethiopia’s capital on her return.
“She’s stable, she’s improving,” Muhammad Ali Pate said.
The authorities were working to prevent the virus from spreading and had identified 44 people who had been in contact with the woman, who tested positive for Ebola on Tuesday, the minister said.
Not all of them have been in close proximity. We cast the net wide so that we contain it as broadly as possible,” Pate told the BBC.
Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo said 46 people – 44 who had come into contact with the woman at hospital and two people who worked in her home – had been banned from boarding flights.
Nigeria has also stepped up Ebola surveillance at its international airports following confirmation of its first case in more than a decade, he said.
Measures include health screenings, temperature checks, tracking travellers’ movements and digital health declarations, Mr Keyamo said.
Neighbouring Cameroon has also stepped up surveillance at its airports and ports.
